Pouring spout



3, 1965 D. M. KITTERMAN 3,198,393

POURING SPOUT Filed Feb. 28, 1963 INVENTOR. DONAL!) M [(ITTERMAIV BY ATTORNEY? United States Patent Ofice 3,198,323 PatentedAug. 3, 1965 3,198,393 POURING SPOUT Donald M. Kitterrnan, Kansas City, Mo., assignor to Pacific Industries, Inc., San Francisco, Calif, a corporation of California 1 Filed Feb. 28, 1963, Ser. No. 261,706 1 Claim. (Cl. 222109) This invention relates to a pouring spout and, more particularly, to such a spout adapted for insertion in the neck of liquid containers whereby to allow liquid to be poured therefrom without dripping once the pouring operation has been terminated, and to also prevent what is commonly known as gurgling, as the liquid is poured from the container.

It is the primary object of this invention to provide a pouring spout for liquid containers having a neck which includes a pair of spaced-apart discs and a tube interconnecting said discs, the spout, when in use, being inserted within the neck of a container and retained with respect thereto whereby liquids may be poured from the container through the tube.

Another very important object of this invent-ion is to provide a pouring lip at one end of the tube, which pouring lip is in overlying relationship to one of the discs, said disc being inclined away from said pouring lip and toward a hole formed therein whereby liquid which drips from the pouring lip is caught by the disc and caused to run toward the said hole and, therefore, back into the container'.

A yet further primary aim of this invent-ion is to provide a pouring spout wherein a pair of discs cooperate with a tube which interconnects the discs and with the inner face of the wall of the neck within which the pouring spout is inserted, to define an air chamber, each of the discs having a hole formed therethrough, which holes are in vertical alignment whereby to allow passage of air through said holes and said air chamber and into said container as liquid is poured from the container through the tube.

A yet further aim of the present invention is to provide a pouring spout which may be molded from plastic material and which can be easily and quickly inserted within the neck of a liquid-carrying container, the pouring spout having one disc which is provided with abeveled edge whereby the said edge may engage the base of the neck at the inner face thereof to thereby retain the pouring spout with respect to the neck and prevent shifting movement thereof as liquid is poured from the container through a tube which forms a part of the pouring spout.

Other objects include details of construction which will become apparent from the following specification and accompanyin g drawing, wherein: 7

FIGURE 1 is a perspective viewof the pouring spout;

FIG. 2 is a bottom plan view thereof;

FIG. 3 is a reduced, fragmentary, sectional view showing the pouring spout positioned within the neck of a container; and

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary, sectional view showing the container as liquid is poured therefrom through the pouring spout.

The pouring spout is broadly designated as and includes as its primary components a pair of spaced-apart discs 12 and 14, said discs being interconnected by a frustoconical tube 16, which tube extends beyond disc 14 and has a pouring lip 18 formed on the portion thereof extending beyond disc 14. The tube 16 is flared outwardly adjacent the edge of that portion which extends beyond disc 14 whereby to present an open end, the opposite end of the tube 16 being open and terminating in substantially flush relationship to the disc 12.

Discs 12 and 14 have holes 26 and 22 formed therethrough, respectively, which holes 20 and 22 are in vertical alignment and are in opposed relationship to the pouring lip 18. Disc 12 is provided with a beveled edge 24 for purposes which will be hereinafter explained, and it is preferable that disc 12 be disposed in a normally horizontal plane, whereas disc 14 is inclined with respect to the horizontal, the same being inclined from the pouring lip 18 toward the hole 22 for purposes which will also be hereinafter made fully apparent.

As best illustrated in FIGS. 3 and 4 of the drawing, the pouring spout 10 is adapted to be disposed within the neck 26 of a container 28, which container normally receives a liquid 36. Neck 26 is of conventional configuration and has an inner face 32 and an outer face 34, the outer face being provided with threads whereby the neck may receive a closure member 36, all as illustrated in FIG. 3 of the drawing.

It will be appreciated that pouring spout 10 may be made of any size whereby to be accommodated in necks of varying diameter, and it is also preferred that the spout 16 be formed from a plastic material whereby resiliency is a characteristic thereof and particularly, of the disc 12, it

being noted in this regard that disc 12 is of a diameter smaller than disc 14 whereby the spout 10 may be received within a neck such as 26 which is of a'tapering' configuration from its rim 38 toward its base 40.

When spout 10 is positioned within the neck 26 it will be seen that beveled edge 24 engages the base 40 of the neck 26 in a frictional manner whereby to retain the spout 10 in the desired position with respect to neck 26. Likewise, the disc 14 of spout 1t overlies the rim 38 of neck 26 and when the closure member 26 is placed upon the container 28, it will be appreciated that the said disc 14 serves as a washer in that it is disposed between the rim 38 of the neck 26 and a downwardly facing shoulder 42 of the closure member 36. Thus, the pouring spout also serves as a washer or sealing element between the closure 36 and the neck 26 when positioned as shown in FIG. 3 of the drawing.

As also shown in FIG. 3, the frusto-conical tube 16 cooperates with the inner face 32 of neck 26 and the opposed discs 12 and 14 whereby to define an air chamber 44, which air chamber is in communication with the interior of container 28 through hole 20 with the atmosphere through hole 22.

Once the spout 10 has been positioned within a container in connection with which it is desired to use the same, it will be appreciated that liquid may be poured from the container in the manner illustrated in FIG. 4 of the drawing whereby the liquid 30 will pass outwardly from the container through tube 16 and at the same time air will enter the container 28 through the hole 22, air

chamber 44 and the hole 20 whereby to prevent the gurgling of the liquid as it passes from the container 23 thereby overcoming an objectionable feature found in most containers and inherent in the pouring of liquid therefrom. v

When the pouring operation has been completed and the container 28 is returned to its upright condition, it is to be anticipated that a small amount of liquid'will be retained on the pouring lip 18, and inasmuch as it is not desirable to have this liquid drip therefrom in such a manner as to reach the outside of the container, the disc 14 is inclined with respect to the horizontal, the inclination being to a point adjacent hole 22 whereby any liquid that drips from the pouring lip 18 will run across the disc 14, and into hole 22 thereby allowing the same to return to the container by passing through chamber 44 and thence through hole 20.

From the foregoing it will be appreciated that the pouring spent 16 serves many functions, one of these being that of .providing a seal between the closure 36 and the rim 38 of the neck 26, which seal is presented by disc 14;

another feature being that the beveled edge 24 of the disc 12 retains the spout 10 within the neck 26 through its engagement with the base 40 of the neck, said disc 12 and the beveled edge 24 thereof being flexible in nature whereby to allow insertion of said disc 12 to a point of engagement as above described. Furthermore, the pouring spout 19, through the provision of holes 21 and 22 formed in the discs 12 and 14 thereof respectively, allows liquid to be poured from a container without the presence of the objectionable gurgling effect.

Yet another advantageous feature of the present invention is the fact that the disc 14 is inclined with respect to the horizontal and with respect to disc .12 whereby to cause any excess liquid which may drip from the pouring lip 18, to return to the container and not to drip exteriorly thereof even if the closure member 36 is not replaced upon the container 28 subsequent to the pouring of liquid therefrom.

It will be further apparent that the pouring spout It may be easily and economically molded from suitable plastic material and may be inserted in containers such as 28 either when the same are originally filled and prior to the sale thereof to consumers, or on the other hand, the

. pouring spout 10 may be sold as a separate item of manufacture for subsequent insertion into containers such as 28. In this regard, pouring spout 19 can be made of any size and thus can be accommodated by necks of varying configurations whereby the said spout 10 can be utilized with virtually any container having a neck.

It is to be understood that while a certain form of the invention has been illustrated and described, it is not to be limited to the specific form or arrangement of parts herein described and shown except insofar as such limitations are included in the claim.

Having thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is:

A pouring spout for liquid containers having a neck, said spout comprising a pair of spaced apart discs, one of said discs having an edge in engagement with the inner face of the wall of the neck at the base of the neck whereby to retain said spout with respect to said neck, the other of said discs being adjacent the rim of the neck of the bottle, each of said discs having a hole therethrough, said holes being in vertical alignment; a tube interconnecting said discs and in communication with the interior of the container, said tube being coaxial with the neck of the container and cooperating with said discs and the inner face of the wall of the neck to define an air chamber,

which circumscribes said tube and is in communication with the atmosphere and the interior of said container through said hole, said tube normally extending above the,

plane of said other disc, there being a pouring lip formed on the extending portion thereof, said pouring lip being in opposed relationship to said holes, said other disc being inclined from a point beneath said lip toward the hole formed therein whereby any excess liquid returns to the container.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 413,876 10/89 Terry 222109 2,248,879 7/41 Kraetch 222569 X 2,543,909 3/51 Hatheway 222-5 66 2,687,831 8/54 Miller .222569 FOREIGN PATENTS 361,110 11/31 Great Britain.

EVERETT W. KIRBY, Primary Examiner.

LOUIS J. DEMBO, Examiner. 

